Heidi Hart, Julie Jin and Pat Tine of Maplewood, Kristin Bennett of Montville, Michael Sundburg of Warren, Trevor Jones of Wyckoff, Ted Cancila of Hoboken, Howard Fischer of Berkley Heights, Lorraine Ford DeMan of Rutherford, and Hugh Davies and Babette Godefroy of NYC portray the many women and men of this show which centers on Garry Essendine (played by Davies), a character Coward wrote to explore the conflicts and absurdities of middle age. Garry juggles women who want to seduce him, a long-suffering secretary (played by Hart), housekeeper (played by Tine) and estranged wife (played by Jin) who fear his misadventures will wreck both their personal and professional partnerships, and a crazed young playwright (played by Jones) who invites himself on Garry’s upcoming journey to Africa.

Described by Coward himself as “a series of semi-autobiographical pyrotechnics,’’ Present Laughter has been produced four different times on Broadway and many more times in London, starring actors as different as Coward himself, Ian McKellen, Albert Finney and Columbia High School graduate Frank Langella in the title role. When it was first produced, critics hailed Present Laughter as “the best comedy of its kind and generation.”

Present Laughter opens on Friday, March 4 and runs on weekend evenings through March 19, with the curtain rising at 7:30 p.m on Fridays and Saturdays. Sunday matinees will be performed on March 6 and 13 at 4 P.M. InterACT’s presentation of Present Laughter is directed by John A.C. Kennedy of Springfield, stage managed by Elizabeth Rogers of West Orange, and produced by Kimberly Mullaney of Maplewood and Elena Svitavsky of South Orange.